“you’ve got to pull it together,” he tells the younger boy, glaring down at him, both their hearts racing against their chests like it’s some kind of competition. with jaewon, it almost always is, but he doesn’t say that, not to sol, not to soft, sweet, tiny sol. by now, most everyone on the ship ought to know that jaewon doesn’t usually go easy on an opponent, real fighting or just sparring, but he’s actually trying to pull his punches for sol, while simultaneously telling the other not to.
sol is the word for a sun, but sol himself would be a small sun at best, probably akin to a red dwarf in terms of luminosity and size. he is too timid for someone with as much power in that mechanical arm of his, too hesitant to use it, and jaewon needs every one of his crew to be able to defend themselves, to put away whatever squeamish feelings they may have. there is no place for weakness on this boat.
and jaewon is trying to help him on his way to becoming a red giant. he wipes at the sweat on his face with his arm and tugs at his tank top. they’ve been at this for hours already, him having relieved the engineer of his duties sometime in the afternoon and it is already dinner time by now. his patience is wearing thin, but it’s hard to dislike sol, not after you know what little jaewon does know about the kid, not after you have a conversation with him, because what sol may lack in tenacity, he makes up for in positivity.
most of the time, it makes jaewon uncomfortable.
“come on, get up, let’s go again.” he offers the other his gloved hand. “this time, stop hesitating, use more of your core strength. you’re not gonna hit anything if you’re too busy thinking about the right kind of pressure to use, okay? use all of it. don’t be worried about hitting me, you’ve got to catch me first.”
